Charlie is a lifelong resident of Washington County. In 2009, Charlie was awarded the State of Illinois Conservation Farm Family of the Year, which recognizes leaders in land conservation that uphold the responsibility to restore its natural productive beauty for future generations. Read more about Rep. Meier.

Budget
– cuts

Quinn administration has FY15 budget;
taxpayers on hook for increased spending while many areas see reduced
funding. The FY15 budget,
passed by Democrat partisan majorities in the Illinois General
Assembly but largely not yet signed into law as of Thursday, June 26,
will see reductions in spending in some areas while overall spending
increases. The budget bills are on the Governor’s desk and he must
sign or veto them prior to the startup of the new fiscal year on July
1st
for spending to continue.

Observers say that Quinn, in deciding
whether or not to sign the budget bills, is facing a dilemma.
Although the numbers will impose spending shortfalls on many specific
areas of the overall budget for State operations, the budget
continues to call for spending more money than the State will have.
In addition, Comptroller Judy Barr Topinka’s June 2014 report to
taxpayers, “Monthly Money Matters”, shows that Illinois continues
to owe $5.1 billion in unpaid bills
(http://www.ioc.state.il.us/comptroller/assets/File/MMM%20-%20June5%202014.pdf).

Anticipated revenue numbers, unlike
spending numbers, are hard numbers based upon the overall status of
the State’s economy and the tax rates the State has pledged to
charge against its citizens and residents in the private sector.

An example of future FY15 reductions can
be found in projected spending numbers for the Illinois Historic
Preservation Agency (IHPA), operator of 56 visitor sites throughout
Downstate and the Chicago area. The IHPA operates most of Illinois’
sites relating to Abraham Lincoln, including the Lincoln Tomb and the
future president’s first home in Illinois, Lincoln’s New Salem
village northwest of Springfield. Amy Martin, agency director, said
on Wednesday, June 25 that the agency plans to complete a list of
sites in which hours and days of public operation will be reduced or
eliminated in the summer or fall of 2014.

Other Illinois agencies have also had
cuts imposed on their FY15 budgets for the fiscal year starting on
Tuesday, July 1. If the Governor signs the budget, either as a whole
or after making amendatory and line-item veto changes, similar
announcements can be expected from these offices and departments in
the days ahead to describe the cutbacks they will have to make.

Chicago/NRI

Subpoenas
issued in continuing NRI investigation; head of the former Illinois
Violence Prevention Authority under increasing scrutiny. State
auditors, in recent months, have begun checking into the
disbursement of $54.5 million in taxpayers’ money by the so-called
“Neighborhood Recovery Initiative,” a 2010 program operated by
the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority (IVPA) under the close
supervision of Gov. Pat Quinn and his office. Audit findings show
a comprehensive failure by the Authority to comply with standard
record-keeping procedures to track where the money, slated for
community social work, actually went.

These audit findings have triggered
action by the Legislative Audit Commission (LAC), a bipartisan panel
of the General Assembly. Pushed by Representative David Reis, a key
House Republican in this investigation, the Commission previously
voted to grant itself subpoena powers to pursue this investigation.
Continuing this inquiry, a subset of the Commission met on Monday,
June 23, to discuss and implement these subpoena powers so that key
Quinn administration personnel can respond to these audit findings
and answer questions raised by the findings.

The audit findings have raised new
questions about the actions taken by the IVPA. This lack of
compliance with established norms of conduct in the accounting and
spending of public-sector funding has become coupled with individual
reports that specific sums of IVPA money were distributed to
well-connected Chicago political insiders, such as Benton Cook III.
Cook is the husband of the elected circuit clerk of Cook County.
Reports, not yet fully investigated, indicate that substantial sums
derived from the funding for this program may have been distributed
as “walking-around money” during the weeks immediately prior to
the November 2010 general election. In November 2010, Gov. Quinn was
elected to a full term by a margin of less than 33,000 votes after
losing 98 of the 102 counties of Illinois. The winning candidate was
not selected by voters in the Chicago suburbs or Downstate, but was
pushed over the top by his margin within Cook County.

The Legislative Audit Commission (LAC), a
nonpartisan arm of the General Assembly, has pursued the Neighborhood
Recovery Initiative audit and investigation. A panel within the LAC
discussed this issue at its meeting on Monday, June 23 in Chicago;
the Commission has issued subpoenas to seven officials, including
IVPA Director Barbara Shaw, former Quinn chief of staff Jack Lavin,
and former deputy Quinn chief of staff Toni Irving. The full
Commission will meet on Wednesday, July 16, and Thursday, July 17,
and investigators hope to get some answers from these key personnel
at this time.

Reports indicate that the NRI issue has
become a serious embarrassment for Gov. Quinn as he seeks another
full term in elected office. Springfield insiders say that the Quinn
administration is pushing its political friends on the Commission and
in General Assembly partisan leadership to set an internal deadline
to abandon the inquiry, even if this move leaves behind an expanding
list of unanswered questions. The Commission’s subpoena powers
have so far been exercised upon other State officials, leaving behind
the key questions of what the Governor himself knew and when he knew
it.

The USDA tabulators estimated the average
value of Illinois land used to grow corn, soybeans, and other cash
crops was $7,190/acre in 2013, up 59% from 2009 (a compound increase
rate of more than 12%). A similar figure for Illinois pastureland
was $3,370/acre in 2013, appreciating 21.6% from 2009.

Farmland values are closely tied to crop
prices, estimates of future crop prices, and the carrying cost of the
investments needed to buy and mortgage land if it changes hands at
current prices. Record-low interest rates for good-quality borrowers
are a factor in these trends.

Education
– bullying prevention

Anti-bullying
bill signed into law; will affect Illinois public and private
schools, including charter schools.
HB 5707 mandates that all public and private schools develop and
implement policies aimed at stamping out bullying behavior. Public
school districts, charter school entities, and private schools are
asked to adopt a package of policies that will include mandatory
reporting of bullying activity, parental notification,
investigations of all reports, and a checklist of potential response
actions available to educators.

The move was imposed by the General
Assembly as a way to strengthen the State’s existing opposition to
bullying behavior. The General Assembly has taken previous actions
against bullying; for example, a 2008 law (Public Act 95-849) struck
back against “cyberbullying” in which isolated students are
harassed or tormented online. Some House members, when they saw HB
5707, were concerned about the ever-increasing burden of State
mandates on public and private schools, including charter schools.
After full debate and a House vote of 75-40-0, the measure was sent
to the chief executive and signed into law on Thursday, June 26. The
bill number was Public Act 98-669 (P.A. 98-669).

Education
– school safety

General
Assembly school safety bill signed into law.
SB 2710 expands the existing School Safety Drill Act to extend the
safety drill requirements to all private schools, including charter
schools. Each affected school will be required to conduct at least
one annual meeting to discuss and review its safety procedures,
including procedures for evacuating or partly evacuating a school
should a safety incident arise. Emergency and crisis response
incidents include incidents when a person without legal access to
school grounds enters a place of education with a firearm.

SB 2710 was agreed to by members of both
parties. The House vote to pass the bill was 105-0-0, and it was
signed into law on Saturday, June 21 as Public Act 98-663 (P.A.
98-663).

Gambling/Lottery

Associated
Press finds that Illinois’ chief State Lottery contractor is
falling far short of revenue promises.
Profits from the sale of net growth in Illinois State Lottery
tickets, including tickets sold for the popular multi-state Mega
Millions and Powerball games, are slated to be paid to schools,
charitable organizations and public-sector infrastructure programs.
However, the AP finds that Northstar, the chief contractual firm
that operates the Lottery, has paid the State approximately $40
million less than anticipated during the last three fiscal years.
Another shortfall of more than $200 million is expected in FY14,
which ends June 30.

The Associated Press report described the
reaction of disappointment expressed by Illinois lawmakers upon news
of the shortfall. The transfer of the operational responsibilities
over the State Lottery to Northstar had been expected to improve
productivity and unleash aggressive and innovative lottery
promotions. The contractual firm, as a condition of being granted
this status, had promised four years ago to pay a tracked sequence of
monies to Illinois over a 10-year period. Failure of the firm to
meet this payment schedule could further worsen relations between the
State agency responsible for the Lottery and its chief contractor.

Budget – cuts

Illinois
State Police agrees to $40 million settlement. The
State law enforcement agency, which is also the operator of a major
Illinois crime lab, agreed to pay the settlement to the “Dixmoor
5.” The five men, arrested in 1992, were exonerated in a process
ending in 2011. DNA evidence released by the State Police, and made
available to attorneys for the five defendants, belatedly shows they
had been innocent of the rape and murder of 13-year-old Cataresa
Matthews in Dixmoor in 1991. The agreement was made public on
Wednesday, June 25.

Prosecutors had trumpeted their arrest
and processing of the five defendants in the notorious case. Press
coverage and courtroom evidence included the publicizing of
“confessions,” allegedly from three of the defendants that had
appeared to implicate all of them. The size of the settlement
indicates that forensic evidence, even with the state of knowledge
available at the time, should have pointed law enforcement in another
direction. The murder case has since been re-opened.

Pensions

Teachers
Retirement System (TRS), largest State-managed defined-benefit
pension panel, again lowers its estimate of future returns on
investments. The expected
move from 8.0 percent to 7.5% brings TRS’s actuarial projections
closer into line with global projections of future investment
returns to be enjoyed by prudent money managers with a substantial
presence in high-grade fixed-income assets. Continued economic
trends have reduced the rate of interest earned by investors in
highly-rated dollar-denominated bond assets down to near zero, and
investment of part of a prudently managed defined-benefit portfolio
in specific equity investments cannot make up the gap enough to
enable professional money managers to pledge 8.0 percent returns in
future years.

The TRS move is expected to increase the
State’s unfunded pension liabilities by a further $6 billion and to
require the annual payment of an additional $500 million/year by
State taxpayers to TRS to enable fulfillment of existing pension laws
demanding make-up payments to try to get the State’s pension
systems back toward “full funding” at a distant future date.

Taxes/Zurich
Insurance

$20.35
million in State tax breaks for Wall Street-listed financial firm.
While the General Assembly once again failed to enact significant
tax reform legislation in the 2014 spring session, the Pat Quinn
administration has taken steps to grant individualized packages of
assistance to favored business firms. Attacked by advocates who
point out Illinois’ high tax rates and perceived low stature as a
place to make investments and create jobs, the current State
administration has dangled targeted tax incentives to companies,
including global-sized firms, that are strong enough to ask for
them.

In a recent move of this type,
Springfield announced on Monday, June 23 that it had awarded a
package of tax incentives totaling $20.35 million as compensation for
the decision by Zurich North America, the U.S. subsidiary of an
internationally known financial firm that writes policies in
specialized fields of property/casualty insurance, to break ground on
a headquarters facility in Schaumburg. The Zurich Insurance Group is
traded on major equities exchanges worldwide. Zurich, which already
employs approximately 2,500 in Schaumburg, did not promise to create
any new Illinois jobs in exchange for the tax incentive package.
Other states, including jurisdictions with higher rankings as centers
of low taxes and enterprise, had offered to help Zurich move its
headquarters operations out of Illinois.

The tax incentives provided by the Quinn
administration to the Zurich Group’s wholly-owned subsidiary is
expected to further increase the “structural budget deficit” in
which revenues from existing taxes continuously fall short of the
State’s urgent spending needs. The “structural deficit” is
blamed for the creation and maintenance of the January 2011
Quinn-signed individual income tax increase on Illinois families.

Week
in Review

The
“Week in Review” is available by email!Sign
up today to keep track of major events and trends. As the
Illinois General Assembly finishes its 2014 spring session, “Week
in Review” subscribers will follow many of the State’s major
bills as they move to the Office of the Governor for final action.
Subscribers will also get a first-hand look at the continuing
challenges facing lawmakers in Springfield, and what our leadership
team and Caucus members are doing about these challenges.

Gov. Pat Quinn's scandal-plagued anti-violence initiative directed thousands of state dollars to a nonprofit that purported to provide services for former inmates, but actually never existed, according to a published report Wednesday.

A legislative subcommittee voted Monday to subpoena seven former state officials connected to Gov. Pat Quinn's troubled anti-violence initiative that's also under federal and Cook County probes.

The rare move — the Legislative Audit Commission last issued subpoenas in the early 1980s — would mean that the former state officials would be compelled to turn in documents and testify next month over two days about the 2010 Neighborhood Recovery Initiative, which was blasted in a state audit earlier this year for mismanagement and misspending. The subpoenas still required a sign off from state Rep. Frank Mautino, a Democratic co-chair of the commission that reviews state audits. Read the Associated Press story by Sophie Tareen in the Belleville News-Democrat.

Norine K. Hammond was appointed on Dec 9, 2010 to fill the vacancy of the late Representative Rich Myers. In 2013, Representative Hammond was reelected and sworn in as the State Representative for 93rd district, which includes all or parts of Brown, Cass, Fulton, Knox, Mason, McDonough, Schuyler, and Warren Counties.

Rep. Hammond has been a constant advocate for agriculture and improving Illinois’ education system. As a gun owner and member of the NRA, she is a strong Second Amendment supporter. She believes that in order to improve the Illinois economy we must put in place strong spending reforms and make changes to our worst in the nation workers’ compensation laws.

Medicaid expansion bill signed by Governor. Many health care advocates have expressed concerns to the State about various payments made and not made, and treatments offered and not offered, within Medicaid under current law. SB 741 contains a complex package of changes to the Medicaid system negotiated by the State, hospitals, nursing homes and other medical care provider organizations. Some of these revisions are designed to draw in matching funds from the federal government, but the State and its taxpayers will also have to put up a stream of money. The annual cost of the changes contained within SB 741 is estimated as at least $221 million per year. Persons concerned about this bill believe the cost could be more accurately estimated at $275 million per year.

The former head of the now-disbanded state agency put in charge of Gov. Pat Quinn’s discredited Neighborhood Recovery Initiative may be compelled to testify in front of a legislative panel next month.

A four-member subcommittee of the Legislative Audit Commission posted notice Tuesday that it intends to meet next Monday in Chicago to vote on whether to subpoena Barbara Shaw to appear before the commission.

Governor Pat Quinn has signed legislation to support repairs to the Big Muddy Levee.

Senate Bill 2721, sponsored by State Senator Dave Luechtefeld (R-Okawville) and State Representative Mike Bost (R-Murphysboro), allows Jackson County leaders to use an expired bond referendum to raise up to $1.7 million for critical repairs. WSILTV has the story.

Rep. Darlene Senger calls for investigation of costs associated with Get Covered Illinois

A Republican lawmaker has called for investigations into spending costs associated with promoting President Barack Obama's health care law in Illinois.

The Associated Press reported that a key subcontractor working on the "Get Covered Illinois" campaign was owned by three former aides to powerful Democrats.

They were among consultants whose hourly billing rate of $282 is raising questions about whether Illinois did enough to rein in taxpayer costs. Their firm could take assignments directly from Gov. Pat Quinn's administration under a provision of its subcontract. The Southern reports the AP story.

Represenative Mike Tryon was born in Terra Haute, Indiana, on July 31, 1955. He graduated from from Indiana State University in 1978 with a degree in Environmental Health Science.

Mike represents the 66th District that includes portions of McHenry and Kane Counties. He first came to the district to take a job with the McHenry County Health Department after graduating from college. While working for the county, he not only fell in the love with the area but also met his future wife Cathy, who at the time worked in the building and zoning department. Read more about Rep. Tryon.

Chicago/NRILegislative Audit Commission schedules next NRI briefing for July 16. The Legislative Audit Commission, which reviewed the performance audit of the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative (NRI) on May 28, is continuing its investigation of the troubled NRI program. This was the program, overseen by the since-disbanded Illinois Violence Prevention Authority, which distributed grants to Chicago social workers for the stated purpose of increasing neighborhood and community ties and fighting street crime.

Spurred by the uproar over the potential $871,000 severance payout awarded last summer to ousted Metra CEO Alex Clifford, state lawmakers have approved a measure requiring tighter scrutiny over future payouts for transit agency employees.

The so-called Clifford clause is part of a broader bill containing several reforms intended to strengthen oversight of the CTA, Metra and Pace and provide more accountability of those agencies, according to legislators.

The legislation would give more teeth to the Regional Transportation Authority, which critics contend lacks enough power to ride herd over the agencies.

Governor Pat Quinn today signed legislation to help organizers of charitable poker runs in Illinois. The legislation ensures that more of the money raised from these grassroots events will go toward the intended recipient by reducing required fees. Today's action is part of Governor Quinn's commitment to encourage volunteerism in Illinois.

"These rides are a creative way to raise funds to support worthy causes," Governor Quinn said. "This new law will help even more events get rolling and help support organizations across Illinois."

According to Representative Rich Brauer, the House sponsor of the bill, "This legislation cleaned up some regulations that were impeding motorcycle-based fundraising events." Read more here.

Rep Charlie Meier and Chole Stirling earlier this year
presenting legislation in committee.

Gov. Pat Quinn signed the "cupcake bill" in the kitchen where it all began, with 12-year-old baker Chloe Stirling and her family looking on Tuesday.

The signing had the atmosphere of a neighborhood block party, with dozens of people in the Stirlings' Troy home - and a lemonade stand in the driveway, operated by Chloe's little sister Sophie. The governor bought two cups of lemonade on his way into the house.

Flanked by state legislators and the Stirling family, Quinn signed the bill that made Chloe's baking business legal again.

Rep. John Anthony, R-Plainfield, will be utilizing his knowledge as a former sheriff’s deputy in his new appointment to two panels dealing with criminal justice reform and illegal gun trafficking.

Anthony has been appointed by House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, to serve on the panels, according to a news release.

The Joint Criminal Justice Reform Committee, comprised of five members from the House and five from the Senate, will examine the impact of the current sentencing structure, ensure enforcement and punishment of crimes does not disproportionately or unfairly affect certain racial, ethnic or minority groups; and develop solutions to address issues that exist within the system. The committee is required to submit a report to the General Assembly by Dec. 1.

The other three House members on the committee, appointed by House Speaker Michael Madigan, include Rep. Ken Dunkin, D-Chicago; Rep. Arthur Turner, D-Chicago; and Rep. Mike Zalewski, D-Riverside. Former prosecutor Rep. Dennis Reboletti, R-Elmhurst, is the other Republican appointed. The committee was established May 30. Read the story by the Morris Daily Herald.

State Representative John Anthony is a full-time legislator who previously served his community as a Law Enforcement Officer since 2005 when he joined the Champaign Police Department. In 2008 John joined the Kendall County Sheriff’s Department where he served as a Deputy Sheriff.

John was awarded the Ervin H. Warren “Cop of the Future” award given to police officers who show strong leadership under duress and maintain integrity and character. Continuing his desire to serve the local community, John and his wife, Deborah, began a non-for-profit charity organization called YARN. The YARN Foundation seeks to strengthen families hand help children by providing educational programs and scholarships. Read more about Rep. Anthony.

“You cannot imagine how a small group of people really is making a change and (will) get this done,”~ Rep. Patti Bellock

Government officials met in Hinsdale with Salt Creek as a backdrop June 5 to announce the state has approved a $626,000 grant that will allow a flood control project for the Graue Mill subdivision to go forward, and to praise the homeowners for making it happen.

The creek looks very tranquil and calm today, said Peter Schroth, president of the Graue Mill Homeowners Association, “but those of us who lived here in 2010 and 2013 know how vicious this little creek can get.”

Homeowners hired Christopher B. Burke Engineering Ltd. and started working on a flood control plan after heavy rains caused Salt Creek to overflow its banks in July 2010 and cause more than $5 million in damages to the 243-unit development, known as Graue Mill Country Residences, as well as to other homes and businesses in the area.

Capital Road Projects $1.1 billion for roads and bridges.HB 3794 and SB 3224, a two-bill package, sets aside $1.1 billion for road and bridge repairs in Illinois. Of this sum, $100 million will be distributed to local governments by pre-existing formula, and $1.0 billion will be spent through the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) on urgent road and bridge projects identified in the Department’s existing multi-year plan.

Proponents of these bills point to inadequate funds from motor fuel taxes. The legacy of increasing numbers of Illinoisans buying gas-sipping smaller vehicles, and repeated raids on the Road Fund to meet other spending programs of the State, have made it impossible in the eyes of transportation experts for IDOT to fully fund its commitments to construct and reconstruct the road and bridge projects that its long-term plan had already committed to accomplish. The $1 billion committed in this two-bill package is meant to provide resources to maintain the usable status of Illinois roads and highways and to keep these road safety and usability commitments.

Ron Sandack is the State Representative for the 81st District, serving Bolingbrook, Downers Grove, Darien, Lisle, Naperville, Westmont, and Woodridge.

Before serving in the House, he was appointed to complete the term of former State Senator Dan Cronin in November of 2010. Upon taking the oath to serve the 21st District in the State Senate, Sen. Sandack immediately declined all state benefits associated with the position; including health insurance and participation in the legislative pension program. Prior to his appointment, he was the Mayor of Downers Grove, where he served from 2007 to 2011. Previously, Sandack served on the Downers Grove Village Council from 2003 to 2007. Read more about Rep. Sandack.

For the umpteenth year and counting, Democrats in the General Assembly last week approved a sham of a budget that relies on many of the same gimmicks that have all but bankrupted Illinois.

The 12-month spending document, passed with no Republican support, doesn’t reduce the state’s record spending. It further relies on delaying paying the state’s bills. It borrows money from special funds to pay for operational expenses. And it counts on inflated future revenue projections that may never materialize.